'A lot of the same': Former Trudeau adviser on U.S.-Canada relations recounts past Trump tariff war

Simon Beauchemin says Trump had promised much worse six years ago and he suspects the president-elect is using the same playbook again

OTTAWA — “Here we go again.”

That was the first thought to pop into the head of Simon Beauchemin, a former adviser on Canada-U.S. relations to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the first Donald Trump presidency, when the president-elect recently announced plans for 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S.

Beauchemin was a key adviser to Trudeau during the last tariff war between Canada and the U.S. in 2018. At the time, Trump announced a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian aluminum and a 25 per cent levy on Canadian steel, launching both countries into a rare trade war that lasted roughly one year.